Biocitech, France
November 6, 2007
Cellectis SA, the French
rational genome engineering company, disclosed today the launch
of a new program with
Bayer CropScience using Cellectis' proprietary custom-made
meganuclease technology in plants to develop products for use in
agriculture.
Meganucleases are a proprietary genome engineering technology
developed by Cellectis that allows highly precise 'editing' of
genetic sequences. They consist of sequence-specific
endonucleases with large (>18-24 bp) recognition sites. This
high specificity ensures Meganucleases can bind and cut at a
single point in a chosen genome, avoiding the imprecision
associated with most other forms of gene modification.
Custom-made Meganucleases can be designed for very specific gene
targeting applications, which include genomic sequence addition,
modification or deletion.
Cellectis and Bayer Cropscience already had an ongoing
collaboration for specific targets in plants since 2006. This
new program includes the design of engineered Meganucleases
specifically customized to recognize new chosen targets in crop
genomes.
Targets and terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
" This new program comforts our presence in the Agrobiotech
field. It strengthens our collaboration with Bayer and confirms
our strategy." Commented David J.D. Sourdive, Vice President
Corporate Development of Cellectis. "We are delivering as
planned and are thus successfully implementing our business
model."
About the agreement
Meganucleases can induce precise, surgical changes in crop
genomes and have the capacity to be the next break-through
enablement for increasing crop yield and creating new
plant-based products for Bayer CropScience's customers.
Agronomic applications are a clear segment of the Cellectis'
markets and the collaboration with Bayer is part of its efforts
to see that its proprietary Meganuclease technology be
implemented in plants. This new program is in direct line with
Cellectis' strategy.
Cellectis SA is a world-leading company in genome engineering
and genome surgery. It focuses on
developing new tools for rational reverse genetics and targeted
recombination. In particular, Cellectis designs meganucleases
(small proteins) that cut DNA at a highly precise, chosen
location in a genome and nowhere else. Genomic DNA breaks are
repaired naturally by the DNA maintenance system present in all
living organisms. Cellectis combines the ability of
meganucleases to cut DNA at a single, chosen location with
natural DNA repair, in order to offer new-generation products
for a wide spectrum of applications:
Human health:
Meganucleases that target a gene responsible for a genetic
disease are transferred into human cells,
together with a DNA repair matrix which includes the correct
sequence for the mutated gene. After the DNA
break occurs (which takes just a few minutes), the right
sequence is copied into the genome of the patients’
cells and the gene is thus repaired. This process - termed
"genome surgery" - has a defined time-frame of
action with permanent effects. All other transferred material is
degraded by natural mechanisms.
Agrobiotech:
The same process used in human healthcare can be applied to
plants, with the objective of replacing one
gene by another, modifying the gene or shutting it down. The
applications developed using Cellectis’
technology are essentially focused on improving agronomic
features of crops, producing new generations of
biofuels and developing better biofibers.
BioProduction:
BioProduction is the production of therapeutic proteins and
antibodies using bacteria, yeasts or mammalian
cells (mouse, hamster and human cells). This multibillion market
has an annual growth rate of over 15%.
Cellectis has developed meganucleases that cut the DNA of major
production cell lines used in
BioProduction, thus enabling the end users (contract
manufacturing organizations and biopharmaceutical
companies) to shorten their cell line engineering processes,
stabilize production yields and thus improve the
quality and features of the final product.
In the long term, Cellectis intends to become the global leader
in genome engineering. To this end, Cellectis is seeking to
establish its rational genome engineering approach (based on
meganucleases with modified specificity) as an industry
standard. In the short and medium term, Cellectis intends to
achieve profitability by commercializing its technology
(primarily in the agrobiotech and bioproduction fields) and, in
parallel, building its own therapeutic pipeline (thus providing
shareholders with medium- and long-term value).
To date, Cellectis has entered into more than 45 deals on its
genome engineering technologies with major players in the
pharma, biotech and agrobiotech industries. Cellectis is listed
on the Euronext Alternext market (ticker code: ALCLS). The
company currently has 46 staff, including 17 PhDs. For more
information on Cellectis, visit our web site:
www.cellectis.com.
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